Kennedy-Kenrick's Lubanski reflects on professional baseball career

The Toronto Blue Jays' Chris Lubanski rounds second after hitting a triple against the Baltimore Orioles during the first inning of a spring training baseball game Wednesday, March 17, 2010, in Sarasota, Fla. (AP Photo/Brian Blanco)

UPPER MERION – Chris Lubanski has been pondering a career change for quite some time.

From the first big physical problem, to being let go by his initial employer, to riding a bus in Chico, many moments have allowed him the opportunity to think about the future.

He had hoped it would end in a Major League Baseball clubhouse, eyes stinging from champagne, his team having just won another World Series after a long and distinguished career performed in front of throngs of cheering fans.

Advertisement

Many of the biggest moments in his life thus far came while he was a student at Kennedy-Kenrick Catholic High. The next big moments for him are being mapped out while he is a student at Villanova University.

Yes, the 27-year-old Lubanski is now an engineering major and freshman member of Nova Nation. He plays most of the part, other than living in a dorm. He and his wife, married this summer, reside in the suburbs.

Among his career considerations these days is also one of author. Lubanski would love to someday sit down and write a book. He knows he has enough material. He already has decided on the title: “The True Story of a First-Round Bust.”

It’s a catchy title, but would it accurately describe what began on a Little League field so many years ago, peaked when Kansas City chose him fifth overall in the 2003 draft, and continued all the way to a Class AAA All-Star selection?

“I know when you talk to baseball people, look at the blogs, this and that, people are going to consider me a bust. I was the fifth overall pick and I never played in the big leagues,” Lubanski said this week during a casual lunch after his morning classes – much of his college tuition paid for as part of his draft deal with the Kansas City Royals.

“I accept that. That’s what people are going to think. The problem is, people don’t know my story, what happened or how it happened.”

Clearly, there are also people who do not see Lubanski’s baseball career this way.

“No, I do not view myself as a bust,” Lubanski said. “I look at my minor league numbers. I’m right around a .280 career hitter, I have over 100 career homeruns, an All-Star at every level. I think I did everything that was asked of me.”

Yet, he never got his cup of coffee in the big leagues, not even a sip.

Among the top players selected in that 2003 draft, first overall pick Delmon Young made his MLB debut in 2006; No. 2 pick Rickie Weeks reached the show late in 2003; and the fourth selection, Tim Stauffer, made it up by 2005. Each is still playing. But the third overall choice, Kyle Sleeth, never made it out of Class AA after being taken by Detroit; and the sixth pick, Ryan Harvey, also missed the majors and is now playing in independent ball.

At one time, it appeared as if all the stars were aligned for Lubanski. Every Major League Baseball franchise was interested in him, he was winning national awards for his skills and as he was about to graduate high school, he was drafted by the Royals.

He rose through the minor leagues, fighting the typical growing pains and eventually earning honors at each level. But after the 2009 season, Kansas City let him go. There was a year playing for Toronto’s Class AAA team – during which he was named an All-Star – then a very brief stint in the Marlins’ system, a trip to independent ball in Chico and a 2011 stop with the Reading Phillies.

It’s one thing to be developing as a player on the way up in the system. It becomes something much different once that players gets stalled so close to the prize.

At one time, getting to the big leagues was a dream. It then became a goal. Sometime during the last nine years, it developed into an obsession, bordering on an addiction. This is not uncommon in sports, but Lubanski saw it happening and did not like it.

“There are so many people in Triple-A who are hitting like .330 and think it is going to happen for them,” Lubanski said, “they’re going to make the big leagues. And it never happens.

“There was a point where I decided I wanted to do something else with my life, when you keep asking yourself, ‘Why am I going through all this?’ It’s a hard thing to do.”

He began thinking about what it would really mean to make that final step to playing big-league ball.

“Could it happen eventually where they called me up,” Lubanski asked. “Yeah, it could happen. But by now, you’re kind of past the point of being the guy. Could I have gotten to the big leagues and played long enough and made enough money to where 10 years from now, my family would be set … I think that boat had already sailed.

“Then, could I have kept playing so I could get there so I could come home and say, ‘Hey, I got there.’ It sounds cool, sure, but when you are looking at the rest of your life, in the big scheme of things, I’m probably not going back to school at like 32. All I will have ever known by that point would be baseball. I wanted options.”

Lubanski took some summer classes at Villanova after being accepted. In his Theology class, he recognized another student seated nearby. It turned out to be Kevin Mulvey, a former pitcher at Villanova who was chosen by the Mets in the second round of the 2006 draft. Mulvey did get his cup of coffee, a total of 10 big-league appearances with Minnesota and Arizona.

Mulvey retired this spring, and there sat a pair of 27-year-old former ballplayers in this one college classroom.

The classroom will not be Lubanski’s only office come next spring, as in October he was named the new head baseball coach at Springside Chestnut Hill Academy. He has never coached a game in his life, but is excited to begin mentoring a new generation of high school players.

“I told them during my interview that the most fun I ever had playing baseball was when I was at Kennedy-Kenrick,” he said, “playing with your buddies working toward a championship. There’s nothing more fulfilling than that. You’re doing it to win and you’re doing it as a collective team.

“In high school, I went out there not to go 4-for-4 or be The Times Herald Player of the Year. I went out there because I wanted my team to win. I’m excited to do that again coaching.”

As this new chapter begins, Lubanski can almost put the last one behind him. He still has some questions, though. They all seem to begin with the same word: why.

Why did he never make the big leagues? Why was there no September call-up? Why did such a promising career stop at Class AAA?

“I got so sick of hearing people tell me I’m a nice guy, you’re a good kid and you’re going to play in the big leagues someday,” he said. “Well, OK, when?

“Hey, I’m a big boy. If I wasn’t good enough, tell me. I could have handled that. No one ever said that. No one ever said I didn’t cut it or didn’t put up the numbers.”

In fact, his numbers are impressive. Lubanski was a .277 career minor-league hitter, belting 113 homeruns with 499 RBIs. He had 927 hits and also scored 532 runs during 893 total games.

But, Lubanski knows those totals will never increase. He has made his peace with that.

During the entire conversation on this day, there was still one question that had to be asked. Would Chris Lubanski ever play baseball, at any level, again? The answer came without pause, seemingly without doubt.

“No,” Lubanski said. “I’m done.”

It has been more than a year since Lubanski last put on a uniform and played in a game. He no longer tailors his workouts for baseball and has not stepped in a batting cage in more than six months.

Lubanski barely saw any baseball this year, choosing to take a year away from the game. He watched a couple innings during the playoffs and went with his brothers up to New York to catch a Yankees/Kansas City game before Mike and Joe Lubanski both left for college.

The Royals lost that night.

He would much rather have been in the outfield than the stands for that game. That opportunity, that dream, that goal, now has also been lost.